The term “process air supply” includes both a closed process air circuit and also an open process air supply. The term “domestic appliance for the care of washed articles” includes any appliance which is configured for drying washing with both an vented tumble dryer in which the process air is directed in an open process air supply into the open air after contact with the washing and also a condenser dryer in which the process air is directed in a closed process air circuit. The process air supply is to be taken below as especially to include all air channels and components through which process air flows during operation.
A domestic appliance embodied as a domestic tumble dryer is known from EP 1 055 767 B1. This has a fan in order to generate a flow of process air within a supply, with said air flow being brought into contact within a drying chamber with the washing to be dried for receiving moisture. The domestic appliance also includes devices for introducing a liquid into a section of the process air supply or extracting it from said section. Furthermore the domestic appliance features a controller which is embodied such that, in a cleaning phase, with the fan switched off, a section of the process air supply is divided off by means of a closure device and at least partly flooded for a specific period with a liquid which is then removed at the end of the cleaning phase from the flooded section of the process air supply. Arranged in the section to be flooded can be a heat exchanger for condensing the moisture contained in the process air on which lint and contaminants have been deposited which are to be removed by the flooding.
Known from EP 0 467 188 B1 is a domestic appliance in the form of a tumble dryer which is equipped for reducing energy consumption with a compressor heat pump. In such a tumble dryer lint which the process air takes away from the washed articles to be dried represents an especial problem since the fine structures of the components through which the process air flows, especially the evaporator, the condenser of the heat pump, are especially susceptible to becoming blocked by fine lint which cannot be completely captured by a conventional lint filter.
Although a lint filter is usually provided, small particles or fine lint can still reach components of the heat pump during operation and be deposited there. In addition to the ongoing cleaning of the lint filter, in practice the process air supply must thus be cleaned at regular intervals. This however demands a large amount of effort since the heat exchangers especially are fixed relatively permanently in the domestic appliance.